NaNoWriMo Math - 5 Word Count Strategies to Hit 50,000

November is National Novel Writing Month, when hundreds of thousands of writers around the world take on the challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Unless you're a publisher or professor, you probably don't spend much thought on word count, so potential WriMos may wonder, "how many pages is that?"

Let's say you write your novel on Microsoft Word (or its equivalent), using Times New Roman font, 12 point, with double spacing. Pages with long paragraphs will have more words than pages with a lot of dialogue, of course, but a good working average is 300 words per page. That works out to approximately 167 pages of frantic writing to crank out in 30 days. The official NaNoWriMo website puts the estimate at 175 pages.

These estimates are all based on the assumption of a typed, normally formatted manuscript. If you write by hand, total your word count for each page in the corner so it's easy to add up. After a few pages, you may be able to estimate how many words your handwriting produces per page. You can create dummy text, such as Lorem Ipsum, of equal word count to upload to the NaNo website at the end of the month.

Using the average of 300 words per page, here's a pages-per-day breakdown of several different word count strategies you might use to hit your 50k goal. Note, these are minimum word/page counts. More is better; you can finish sooner or pick up slack from bad days. Remember to reallocate your word count if you miss the minimum or know you'll have to skip a day. You might not want to write on Thanksgiving, for example.

Steady and Strong

Every day for 30 days: 1667 words per day = 5 ½ pages per day

Keep the Sabbath

A day of rest once a week: 2000 words per day = 7 pages per day

Hi-Lo

Whirlwind weekends: 3,000 words per day = 10 pages per day

Easy weekdays: 1,000 words per day = 3 ½ pages per day

Part Timer

Write 4 days of the week: 2,500 words per day = 8 pages per day

Write 3 days of the week: 3,333 words per day = 11 pages per day

Weekend Warrior

Since we can't all quit our jobs for November: 5,000 words per day = 16 ½ pages per day

Fifty thousand words in 30 days is a tall order, but making daily word count goals can help you walk away a winner.